Sirius Zero: Building A Corporate Kingdom After Being Expelled

Chapter 166: A suspension

"We seem to have picked up a few strays," chuckled Ruth, as Edward opened the door to Adelaide, Yue and Yasmin.

"Hey, I’m not complaining. Besides, these are very well-behaved young ladies," chuckled Edward.

"Thanks for having us over, Captain," said Adelaide.

"Oh, it’s my pleasure," said Edward.

"Hey Adelaide, thanks for coming over," said Mikaela, as Adelaide, Yasmin and Yue settled into the living room.

"No biggie. Besides, this is a study session," said Adelaide, as she and the others opened their books.

"Yeah, that’s true," said Mikaela, flipping to her assignments on the properties of metals.

"You girls need any help? I may look like an old guy, but I did go to Georgia Tech back in the day," offered Edward.

"I’ll take you up on that, Captain. Can you explain how we get the quadratic formula?" asked Yue.

"Sure, the formula is actually pretty simple on the surface. You have the coefficients A, B and C, right? To find the value of X, since we also have an X squared in it, we rearrange them to give us the values. So we first divide the entire thing by A, that will isolate the X squared component. So we have now X squared plus B over A times X, plus C over A. We move the constant part to the other side, so X squared plus B over A times X, is equal to minus C over A. Now, we do a trick called completing the square. See the left-hand side of the equation? It looks a lot like the perfect square trinomial A plus B the whole squared, which we know expands to A squared plus 2 times A times B plus B squared right? So we factorize that on both sides, we take that B over A, and halve it so we get B over 2 times A, then we square that and add it to both sides to balance the equation out so on the left we have X squared, plus B over A times X plus B squared over 4 times A squared, is equal to minus C over A, plus B squared over 4 times A squared. Now the left-hand side folds into a perfect square. So you have X plus B over 2 times A, the whole squared, equal to minus C over A, plus B squared over 4 times A squared. Now, we combine the right-hand side, so we get X plus B over 2 times A, the whole squared is equal to B squared minus 4 times A times C over 4 times A squared. Now, we take the square root on both sides, so X plus B over 2 times A is equal to plus or minus the square root of B squared minus 4 times A times C over 2 times A. Take the B over 2 times A to the other side, and voilà. You get the quadratic formula of X is equal to minus B, plus or minus the square root of B squared minus 4 times A times C over 2 times A," said Edward, showing Yue how to solve it on a paper.

"Hmm, OK. I’ve got it now," said Yue, going over the steps.

"Adelaide, your writing is so pretty," said Mikaela, as she looked over at Adelaide writing her English assignment.

"It’s called cursive. Want to learn?" asked Adelaide.

Mikaela nodded eagerly, and Adelaide wrote out the alphabet on a blank page.

"There, you can practice by going over it, and trying yourself," said Adelaide, handing her the page.

"Let’s try," said Mikaela, and she slowly traced over the cursive letters, before trying them herself.

The first few lines were awkward, but Mikaela soon got control over the formation of the letters, and the rest of the page grew much neater.

"Wow, you really do pick things up quickly," said Adelaide, marvelling at the speed which Mikaela was able to pick up cursive writing.

"This is actually working better for me than the block letters," said Mikaela, finishing the page, and then restarting her assignment, this time in cursive.

---

The doorbell ran, and Ruth answered it to find Annette standing outside.

"Hey Annette," said Ruth.

"What’s going on here?" asked Annette, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she saw Mikaela sitting on the floor of Edward’s living room, with Adelaide, Yasmin and Yue, all deep into their various assignments.

"It’s a study group that I’m tutoring. Those are all scholarship girls, and they are prepping for their finals," said Edward.

"Annette. Please, don’t make a scene," said Ruth, as she and Edward blocked her path to Mikaela.

"OK, but I want you to know, that you’ve crossed a line by not looping me in on this. I want Mikaela back home as soon as possible," said Annette, her voice shaking in fury.

"OK, don’t worry," said Edward.

Annette turned back and left.

Mikaela let out an explosive breath.

"Whew! That was close. Looks like I’m grounded," she said.

"My condolences, Mikaela. Your mom is pretty intense," said Adelaide, trying hard not to appear shaken.

"OK, let’s wrap this up quickly, and get to dinner," said Mikaela.

The other girls nodded, and focused on finishing their assignments.

---

"Bon appétit," said Edward, serving up plates of steaming steak and mashed potatoes to Adelaide, Yue, Yasmin and Mikaela.

"Thanks, Captain Hawkins," said Adelaide.

"Itadakimasu," said Yue clasping her hands, before picking up her knife and fork.

"What does that mean?" asked Mikaela, as she started on her own steak, trying to imitate their refined mannerisms.

"It is an expression of gratitude, to the animals, the farmers, and to the chef who made the meal possible," said Yue.

"By the way Mikaela, you said you were having trouble fitting in at Boston Public. Surely there are some older girls like us over there too?" asked Yasmin.

"Nope. They’re all pretty much like Anna and Ester. The boys are not too bad, but they tend to not talk much to us girls, and they stick together in their groups. It’s gotten even worse now that Ester has joined, boys avoid us like the plague," said Mikaela.

"Ester? Ester David? She’s there in Boston Public?" asked Adelaide.

"I guess that’s her last name. She’s always in a veil and caftan," said Mikaela.

"I can’t believe she’s still doing that," sighed Adelaide.

"You know her?" asked Mikaela, surprised.

"Yeah, she tried to get the uniform at St. Ignatius banned. Her parents are big deal media types, and they were putting pressure on the school principal to do it. I had also submitted a petition to allow us to wear heels higher than the four centimeter regulation, so they decided to hold a debate and a student poll to find out who actually wanted what. It was supposed to be pretty normal school stuff, but Ester brought in four girls from outside, and they started talking about stuff like Sharia law, rapes, and a bunch of other stuff. We still managed to win a 60% vote by sticking to our points about the uniform’s specs, and about how they give us a shared identity, but our dads were pissed off," said Adelaide.

"Pissed off is an understatement, my dad actually wanted to kill Ester’s dad for twisting Sharia law," chuckled Yasmin.

"What happened?" asked Mikaela, her eyes wide.

"Well, our dads stepped in, and they got Ester’s parents to withdraw her, and leave the Sirius Zone. My dad’s actually a pretty big shot in Libya, so he pulls a lot of weight, even with the SZPD," said Yasmin.

"Yeah, even Yasmin’s boyfriend didn’t know how much of a big guy her dad is," chuckled Yue.

"This coming from the girl who has a mega-crush on Axel?" shot back Yasmin.

"Touché," said Yue, blushing crimson.

"Well, coming back to the topic at hand. Boston Public is basically the kind of place where Ester is the popular girl," said Mikaela.

"OK, you seriously need to transfer to St. Ignatius, Mikaela. Not only is Ester bad news, but your talents are wasted in that dump," said Adelaide.

"I know, but my mom goes ballistic at the very mention of the name. Even my dad decided to drop it after she went to pieces," sighed Mikaela.

---

Mikaela sat alone in a corner of the cafeteria, but close enough to the staff table to discourage anyone from picking on her.

She ate her lunch, consisting of a slice of apple, some wilted spinach salad, and some macaroni and cheese.

Her movements were quick and precise as she handled the plastic spork.

"Hey Mikaela, why don’t you come sit with us?" asked Ester, approaching the table where Mikaela was sitting.

"I’m fine right here, besides. You and Anna have great chemistry. If I join in, we’ll all just end up arguing," said Mikaela, dismissing Ester with a delicate shooing gesture.

What could be seen of Ester’s eyes through her veil and scarf narrowed.

"I’ve seen that gesture before. Who the hell have you been hanging out with?" she demanded.

"My choice of friends and associates is none of your business," said Mikaela, looking up to meet Ester’s eyes.

"Is there a problem here?" asked Maria, coming towards the table.

"Butt out, Teach. This is between me and this stuck-up little bitch," said Ester, moving forward to corner Mikaela.

Mikaela stood up, and with a quick movement, seized Ester’s veil and ripped it off her.

"I get it now. This is what you want to hide," said Mikaela, as Ester desperately tried to hide her acne-covered face with her headscarf.

"Give it back please," said Ester, her voice muffled with both tears and the headscarf.

"Don’t ever come near me, or try to talk to me again," said Mikaela, tossing the veil back at Ester, as Maria stood in stunned silence.

---

"Principal Randall, this is highly uncalled-for. Mikaela acted only in self-defense," said Maria, as she and Mikaela sat opposite Principal Tamera Randall.

"You’re already on thin ice with that notes stunt you pulled while grading assignments, so shut up," barked Tamera.

"I’m here as Mikaela’s advocate, don’t tell me to shut up," fired back Maria, getting to her feet.

"Sit your ass, down, girl. This is my office," snarled Tamera, glaring enviously at Maria’s slender form, acutely aware that she herself couldn’t stand up due to her legs being unable to support her body mass.

Maria sat back down.

"First off. You let the situation get out of hand. Second, Mikaela escalated and attacked Ester, causing severe trauma. In light of this, I’m issuing one week suspension for both of you. Now get out," said Tamera.

Maria opened her mouth to protest, but Tamera raised her hand.

"Don’t make me turn that into an expulsion and termination, Maria. I’m already pissed off at you for undermining the privilege grading system I’ve worked my ass off to get ratified," she said, her voice trembling in fury.

Maria clenched and unclenched her fists.

"Very well, Principal," she said, and stood up to leave, ushering Mikaela outside.

---

"Mikaela, it will be all right. Listen to me. You did nothing wrong, OK? Principal Randall is just being unfair," said Maria, as they left the office.

"I know. I’m OK," said Mikaela, as they walked back towards the classrooms.

Mikaela stopped in her tracks as she saw Annette hugging Ester, outside the seventh grade classroom.

"Annette!" shouted Maria, horrified at the scene.

Annette and Ester broke apart, and Annette straightened, frowning at Maria.

"I get professionalism, but not defending your own daughter to Randall is really a step too far," said Maria, her voice shaking.

"Well, I didn’t raise Mikaela to go around pulling veils off!" shot back Annette.

"It’s OK, Ms. Washington. I’ll just grab my stuff and go home," said Mikaela, patting Maria on the arm.

"No it is not OK! Annette. Do you have any idea what just happened in Randall’s office? Mikaela has been suspended for a week! And what do I find you doing? Consoling the perpetrator! You disgust me!" snarled Maria.

Annette folded her arms and glared at Maria.

"Am I happy about this? Of course not! But Mikaela needs to learn that actions have consequences!" she said.

With a deep breath, Maria turned to Mikaela.

"Mikaela, sweetie, you have somebody to pick you up?" she asked.

"Yes, Ms. Washington," said Mikaela.

"Give them a call, I’ll wait with you in the parking lot," said Maria, pulling Mikaela away from where Annette still stood with her arms folded.

"OK," said Mikaela, fumbling with her phone to text Ruth.

---

Mikaela’s self-control wavered, and she threw herself into Maria’s arms, sobbing as they stood in the empty parking lot.

"Shh, it’s OK. You did nothing wrong," said Maria, trying to soothe Mikaela.

"Why does she want me? I’m happy to go live with Daddy. Why does my mom want me when she doesn’t like me?" sobbed Mikaela.

"I don’t know, sweetie. I don’t know," sighed Maria, feeling helpless.

Maria was saved by the arrival of Ruth in her red Tesla.

"Hey Mikaela, what happened?" she asked.

Maria stepped in and gave Ruth the summary of what had happened.

"Of all the things Annette could do," sighed Ruth.

"Ms. Hirschfield. I don’t care anymore. I want to stay with Daddy," said Mikaela, drying her tears.

Ruth nodded grimly. "I’ll call Stefan and set up a meeting between you and him," she said.

"Thanks for everything, Ms. Washington. I know you took a big risk today," said Mikaela.

"Don’t worry about me, Mikaela. Enjoy yourself over the week," said Maria, hugging Mikaela warmly.

"Come on, sweetie, let’s get you home," said Ruth, helping Mikaela into her car.

"Take me to Captain Hawkins’ place. I’m not staying with Mom - I mean Ms. Petra ever again!" declared Mikaela fiercely.

"You got it," said Ruth, starting up her Tesla.